TRANSCRIPT: Police Interview With Sen. Larry Craig

The following is an unedited transcript of an interview between police Sgt. Dave Karsnia and police Detective Noel Nelson with Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, regarding a June 11 incident at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Audiotapes and a transcript of the interview were released today.

Craig was arrested June 11 in an airport bathroom by Karsnia, who was working undercover. Karsnia said Craig exhibited behavior in the men's restroom that was "often used by persons communicating a desire to engage in sexual conduct."

Craig later pleaded guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct. When news of the arrest hit the press Monday, Craig issued a statement saying, "I should have had the advice of counsel in resolving this matter. In hindsight, I should not have pled guilty. I was trying to handle this matter myself quickly and expeditiously."

Under pressure from Republican party leaders, Craig stepped down from his Senate committee leadership posts.

DK: You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be
used against you in court of law. You have the right to talk to a lawyer
now or have a present, a lawyer present now or anytime during
questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed to you
without cost. Do you understand each of these rights the way I have
explained them to you?

LC: I do.

DK: Do you wish to talk to us at this time?
LC I do

DK Okay Urn, I just wanna start off with a your side of the story, okay. So, a

LC: So I go into the bathroom here as I normally do, I'm a commuter too
here.

DK: Okay.

LC: I sit down, urn, to go to the bathroom and ah, you said our feet bumped. I
believe they did, ah, because I reached down and scooted over and urn,
the next thing I knew, under the bathroom divider comes a card that says
Police. Now, urn, (sigh) that's about as far as I can take it, I don't know
of anything else. Ah, your foot came toward mine, mine came towards
yours, was that natural? I don't know. Did we bump? Yes. I think we did.
You said so. I don't disagree with that.

DK: Okay. I don't want to get into a pissing match here.

LC: We're not going to.

DK: Good. Urn,

LC: I don't, ah, I am not gay, I don't do these kinds of things and...

DK: It doesn't matter, I don't care about sexual preference or anything like
that. Here's your stuff back sir. Urn, I don't care about sexual preference.

LC: I know you don't. You're out to enforce the law.

DK: Right.

LC: But you shouldn't be out to entrap people either.

DK: This isn't entrapment.

LC: All right.

DK: Urn, you you're skipping some parts here, but what what about your
hand?

LC What about it? I reached down, my foot like this. There was a piece of paper
on the floor, I picked it up

DK: Okay.

LC What about my hand?

DK: Well, you're not being truthful with me, I'm kinda disappointed in you
Senator. I'm real disappointed in you right now. Okay. I'm not, just so
you know, just like everybody, 1,1,1, treat with dignity, I try to pull them
away from the situation

LC: 1,1

DK: and not embarrass them.

LC: I appreciate that.

DK: And I

LC: You did that after the stall.

DK: I will say every person I've had so far has told me the truth. We've been
respectful to each other and then they've gone on their way. And I've
never had to bring anybody to jail because everybody's been truthful to
me.

LC: I don't want you to take me to jail and I think.

DK: I'm not gonna take you to jail as long as your cooperative but I'm not
gonna lie. We...

LC: Did my hand come below the divider? Yes. It did.

DK: Okay, sir. We deal with people that lie to us everyday.
LC: I'm sure you do.

DK: I'm sure you do to sir.

LC: And gentleman so do I.

DK: I'm sure you do. We deal with a lot of people that are very bad people.
You're not a bad person.

LC: No, I don't think I am.

DK: Okay, so what I'm telling you, I don't want to be lied to.

LC: Okay.

DK: Okay. So we'll start over, you're gonna get out of here. You're gonna
have to pay a fine and that will be it. Okay. I don't call media, I don't do
any of that type of crap.

LC: Fine.

DK: Okay.

LC: Fine.

DK: All right, so let's start from the beginning. You went in the bathroom.

LC: I went in the bathroom.

DK: And what did you do when you...

LC: 1 stood beside the wall, waiting for a stall to open. I got in the stall, sat
down, and I started to go to the bathroom. Ah, did our feet come
together, apparently they did bump. Well, I won't dispute that.

DK: Okay. When I got out of the stall, I noticed other other stalls were open.
LC: They were at the time. At the time I entered, 1,1, at the time I entered, I
stood and waited.

DK: Okay.

LC: They were all busy, you know?

DK: Were you (inaudible) out here while you were waiting? I could see your
eyes. I saw you playing with your fingers and then look up. Play with
your fingers and then look up.

LC: Did I glance at your stall? I was glancing at a stall right beside yours
waiting for a fella to empty it. I saw him stand up and therefore I thought
it was going to empty.

LC: Did I slide them too close to yours? Did I, I looked down once, your foot
was close to mine.

DK Yes.

LC Did we bump? Ah, you said so, I don't recall that, but apparently we were
close.

DK Yeah, well your foot did touch mine, on my side of the stall.

LC: All right.

DK: Okay. And then with the hand. Urn, how many times did you put your
hand under the stall?

LC: I don't recall. I remember reaching down once. There was a piece of
toilet paper back behind me and picking it up.

DK: Okay. Was your was your palm down or up when you were doing that?

LC: I don't recall.

DK: Okay. I recall your palm being up. Okay.

LC: All right.

DK: When you pick up a piece of paper off the ground, your palm would be
down, when you pick something up.

LC: Yeah, probably would be. I recall picking the paper up.

DK: And I know it's hard to describe here on tape but actually what I saw was
your fingers come underneath the stalls, you're actually ta touching the
bottom of the stall divider.

LC: I don't recall that.

DK: You don't recall

LC: I don't believe I did that. I don't.

DK: I saw, I saw

LC: I don't do those things.

DK: I saw your left hand and I could see the gold wedding ring when it when
it went across. I could see that. On your left hand, I could see that.
LC: Wait a moment, my left hand was over here.

DK: I saw there's a...

LC: My right hand was next to you.

DK: I could tell it with my ah, I could tell it was your left hand because your
thumb was positioned in a faceward motion. Your thumb was on this
side, not on this side.

LC: Well, we can dispute that. I'm not going to fight you in court and I, I
reached down with my right hand to pick up the paper.

DK: But I'm telling you that I could see that so I know that's your left hand.
Also I could see a gold ring on this finger, so that's obvious it was the
left hand.

LC: Yeah, okay. My left hand was in the direct opposite of the stall from you.

DK: Okay. You, you travel through here frequently correct? LC I do

DK Um,

LC Almost weekly.

DK: Have you been successful in these bathrooms here before?

LC: I go to that bathroom regularly

DK I mean for any type of other activities.

LC: No. Absolutely not. I don't seek activity in bathrooms.

DK: It's embarrassing.

LC: Well it's embarrassing for both.. I'm not gonna fight you.

DK: I know you're not going to fight me. But that's not the point. I would
respect you and I still respect you. I don't disrespect you but I'm disrespected right now and I'm not
tying to act like I have all kinds of power or anything, but you're sitting here lying
to a police officer.